The Effect of the Dark Triad on Organizational Fraud

Abstract

Our personalities affect every decision we make and our moral code. When looking at crime, we often see personality traits being used as possible explanatory factors of why crimes are committed. Fraud is no exception to this. Previous research suggests that when trying to predict which individuals are more likely to commit fraud, we should start the investigation with personality traits. The Dark Triad (DT) consists of three negative traits: narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism. Previous research found that each of the Dark Triad traits has a strong correlation to dishonesty, selfishness, and unethical behaviors (Harrison, Summers, and Mennecke 2018; Lee and Ashton 2005). The Harrison et al. (2018) study found that the presence of the Dark Triad leads to increased online fraud risk. Our research resulted in a similar conclusion for occupational fraud. In addition, we found that income level, education level, and age correlated with occupational fraud risk.